The present invention relates generally to agricultural equipment having bearing assemblies operating in a hostile environment, and more specifically to a bearing guard for such bearing assemblies.
On certain agricultural implements such as disks, disk gang bearings are subject to contamination and wear by the constant contact with moving material such as soil and debris during field operations. Various types of wear guards are available to protect the bearings and bearing flanges from the material, including a sheet metal guard which provides some bearing flange protection. However, no protection is provided for the grease zerk, and the guard tends to catch and drag trash and field debris. The guard also wears relatively quickly and is subject to damage, particularly in sandy or rocky soil conditions. A second type of guard is cast from grey iron but does not mate with existing bearing mounting plates and also does not provide zerk protection.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved bearing wear guard. It is another object to provide such a guard which overcomes most or all of the aforementioned problems.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved bearing wear guard which mates with current bearing mounting plates. It is another object to provide such a guard which protects the grease zerk.
It is still another object to provide an improved bearing wear guard which is longer lasting and sheds trash and debris more easily than at least most previously available trash guards. It is yet another object to provide such a guard which protects the bearing, bearing support structure and grease zerk and yet does not catch trash.
A guard for a bearing assembly with a bearing mounted on a bracket includes a body portion supported from the bearing bracket by a pair of bolts that also attach the bearing flange to the bracket. The guard is supported adjacent the bearing and includes an upper edge conforming generally to the shape of a portion of the rotatable tool structure. A zerk-protecting area is supported from the body portion for protecting the port from the abrasive soils and rocks.
A trash shedding surface with portions angled relative to the forward direction directs trash around the bearing and bearing bracket. The bearing wear guard extends under the bearing and forwardly of the bearing bracket. The zerk-protecting area projects upwardly and outwardly from the upper edge and partially defines an upwardly opening channel-shaped area which protects the zerk from rocks and abrasive soils. In the preferred embodiment, the guard is fabricated as a unitary wear-resistant casting and may be retrofitted onto most available bearing supports.